Category: Lyrics

We’re all in the same band – don’t act like you don’t know me!
We’re all in the same band – don’t act like you don’t know us!
I don’t care who’s watching, I don’t care who sees
I know that we been workin and we forget to breathe
So get up in the circle, thrash around the room
stomp and pit and laugh across the floor just like we used to do!

If the kids just wanna dance, give’em what they want
If the kids just wanna dance, give’em what they want

This dance is not for violence, violence is for fools
The Enemy’s in City Hall, not inside this room.
We don’t have the time, we’re not that type of band
Just worked for 40 hours – now we wanna dance
We ain’t come to drink – NO!! We ain’t come to fight – NO!!
Monday morning, London calling – we ain’t got all night
Your boots have been to hell and back, who are we to front?
if the kids just wanna dance, better give’em what they want!

If the kids just wanna dance, give’em what they want
If the kids just wanna dance, give’em what they want

We’re all in the same band

We’re all in the same band – don’t act like you don’t know me.
Don’t act like you don’t know us – we’re all in the same band.

Addiction is a sickness, not a fucking crime.
Offenders in possession should be seein’ treatment
instead of doing time, but if inmates ain’t in jail,
prisons miss their quota and States ain’t makin’ fines
bad guys in jail, good guys go free…
but most convicted people are just like you and me!

locked up – locked up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING.
Locked Up – Locked Up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING

The courts are stacked against you, the cops all fucking lie
Marching at a rally, driving late at night
Trumped up fucking warrant, bullshit minor fine
if you can’t afford a lawyer, then you can’t afford your rights
Keep you from your numbers, keep you from your phone
Take your only wallet, jump suit for your clothes!

Locked up – Locked up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING
Locked Up – Locked Up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING

“Pulled you over for that taillight and found a warrant for unpaid speeding tickets…”
“We illegally entered your home and smelled weed smoke…”
You were in the right place… at the Right Tiiime.

Locked up – Locked up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING
Locked Up – Locked Up!
What for? Nothing, NOTHING

Left my car homeless, bottom of the exit
with a sign for the cops to contend with,
said: “Work For Change – Gone Till November”
Have traveled and I’ll shotgun agendas.
Start walking, less talk and more motion
Tried to pick up all the trash along the shoulder
but there was more than I was strong enough to hold up
Over flowin’ oceans, stretchin’ on horizons
and Man, we reflect that likeness
Consumption as violence; 6 billion violins
frenetic to buy shit, marionettes smilin’
Symphony of destruction reality television island
starring every living thing up in the globe
Every purchase is the fuel, every dollar is a vote
so I made an oath upon my Mother’s soul
though I couldn’t do it for’em, I’d at least account up for my own

It took ten years to make this song
It made me sure, it made me strong
It’s for Ona, for Packing Town
It was their fight then, it’s our fight now

I been vegan for over a decade, sober for 8.
bike, no car, through the snow and the rain
Can’t fake 4,000 days ashamed,
sittin’ at the table, skippin’ what Mamma made
but I can’t change just to comfort with taste
Factory farm = abomination of nature
n’ slavery’s the same by any other name
I’m sorry Mom and Dad but this is what you raised!
“Being green’s” easy when you see
that it’s your money funding the syringe and the whip
beak ripped, holes poked, and throat slit
Hormone n’ steroid injected to veins
Terrified with live eyes wide open
It’s the polar opposite of quick and painless
destruction of soil, mass water wasted,
factory farms tap dance on mass graves.
a hunter-gatherer nation we slaughtered to take it
sacrilege to those once and truly native
I don’t believe in god,
but if I did I’d know this isn’t how She made it

Keep the lights off!
No paper to trash, take it back and properly deposit
Flatten boxes, glass, shopping bags, and plastic bottles
Hydrogenated oil, red dye cancer?
Strangely, it seems I’m the one they callin’ crazy
cause i know what’s in my food before i put it on my table.
It’s EASY bein’ green, you just gotta read the labels
Corporation farms bought the FDA,
Passing poison food every single day
Profiteering banks, a pyramid of lies
crushing family farms and a whole way of life.
Agri-corp is waste – Earth, Water, Sky.
they may get your money, but they not gettin mine
Green-Wash Freeze Up-comin’
but we fought back before Truth made cents for Al Gore
for the whole damn planet and the same simple reason:
if you wouldn’t kill that life yourself, you probably shouldn’t eat it

Like farmers up against the bank, decades fightin’ for their land
workers up against the mill, all day standin’ straight up still
drivers headed for the docks, caught between the road and clock
miners up against the boss, black lungs pumping in the dark
cutting hours at the plant, loss of rent and benefits
with no option left but strike – hard hats on the picket line
single mothers, double shifts, with no healthcare for their kids
I am not unbreakable, but I won’t cry off

Guns Up! – they sell us out, we climb back up
Guns Up! – they cut us down, we find a way
Have heart, friends! Have heart, friends!
Have heart, friends!

Like families up against a loan strive to stay in their homes
bail outs for the CEO – when its us they just foreclose
natives up against police, new world res is wounded knee
still alive to fight Chevron oil rigs in the Amazon
hand to hand for their lives while Nestle claims their water rights
Monsanto sues to own all seeds, poison spray the earth and trees
like villagers against their tanks from Gaza City to West Bank
can’t always bleed, one day we’ll win – New Hymns for an Old War, sing!

Guns Up! Guns Up! can’t always bleed
Guns Up! Guns Up! one day, we’ll win

Guns Up! Guns Up! can’t always bleed
Guns Up! Guns Up! one day, we’ll win

Guns Up! Guns Up! New Hymns, Old War
Guns Up! New Hymns, Sing!

Guns Up! – they sell us out, we climb back up
Guns Up! – they cut us down, we find a way
Have heart ,friends! Have heart, friends!
Have heart, friends!

It’s a war just to begin…
Sometimes it takes all you got just to reach the beginning.
forget what comes after you even get the chance to finish.
the arc of the grind is long, but an honest man
knows no promise at the bottom of a jostled olive branch.
look back through each and every fault in Gene –
you’ll see everybody got a Separate War & Piece,
fallen to leaves, sand and the mud,
the strength of a dove to anchor your blood.
an ark in the storm, stranded for months –
it takes every charge in your gut
just to make the start of the gun.

the arc of the grind longs for a rest in peace,
but it’s War just to begin and there ain’t no guarantees

it’s war just to begin – there’s no guarantees
it’s war just to begin – there’s no guarantees

Whether 10 months or just over the span of a week,
a raven and two doves or one returning branch in its beak,
when the levee breaks, there’s no way to measure depth of its weight
till you test your craft against the strength of the waves.
I know that we ain’t the first to wade through
these floodgates claiming a deluge of paid dues,
but the plain truth is if this was easy,
then everybody would sail through.
it’s supposed to be hard. from the sky,
drowned bodies look like flies on the water.
iridescent eyes float to smile by the alter.
the same goddess who made covenant rain bow
reigned both over love and war in the same stroke.

it’s war just to begin – there’s no guarantees
it’s war just to begin – there’s no guarantees

from the sky
drowned bodies
look like flies
on the water

We’ve been gone from home so very long now
why’d we wait so long? don’t even know how
signs passin’ by- all look the same now
Eight weeks is forever; Road feels like Home now
when you’re almost free, eyes start to light up
you don’t wanna eat, teeth clamp and grind down
one Providence I can put my faith in
Olneyville to Fox Point – I can almost taste it
can’t bear another mile, even with your best friends
Connecticut is torture – it never seems to end
but my city is an anchor, my state is full of hope
when we feel the waves, we know we’re almost home
burnin’ up the coast to the place of my birth
butterflies burst chest cresting Thurber’s curve
Like seeing the ocean for the very first time –
nothing like the sight roundin’ I-95
returning to the high rise of my Providence sky-line…
Hope City Sky!

ONLY ONE PROVIDENCE
I CAN PLACE MY FAITH

Dirt Palace dance party, single-speed night rides
pillow fight, Lots of Noise, White Mice, dumpster dive!
Drop Dead, St. Jude, Lightening Bolt, Ride the Skies…
Sin of Angels, Verse, Six Finger Satellite,
Tiny Hawks, Sweet Thieves, Alec K, Tinsel Teeth,
Soul Control, Chinese Stars, No Regard, Midnight Creeps,
B Sharp, Armageddon, Tor Paul, Corleone!
White Electric in my cup, Deer Tick in the head phones.
I’m from the biggest little politically active
Jobs with Justice, Youth In Action
End the Seige, SDS, AS220,
Green Party, DARE, Prov Slam, Buy Nothing,
ISO, Food Not Bombs, 2:1, Marriage Rights,
WIL, IWW, What Cheer? Mobilize,
Big Naz, Farm-acy! roller derby, kick ball
Load Records, Steel Yard, Daughters drinkin’ Red Rum
Arab on Radar -n’ Sage Francis.
Machines wit Mags, Crit Mass n’ Strange Famous!

ONLY ONE PROVIDENCE
I CAN PLACE MY FAITH

my city is an anchor, my state is full of hope
when we feel the waves, we know we’re almost home
one Providence calling in the night
NO SLEEP TILL HOPE CITY SKY!

Only One Providence
I can place my faith.

Prayer is older than religion,
it’s older than god and priests.
it’s older than money, music, or bibles –
it’s even older than speech.
it doesn’t mean beg god to get what you want,
it’s war just to be alive.
n’ sometimes you gotta call out to all that’s beyond
just to reach the universe inside.

From the bottom of a mineshaft
come these new hymns for an old war
pray for rain – rock for light
sing for hope – work for change

pray for thanks, for focus
pray for love, the strength of doves

And they say that there’s no
atheists in a foxhole,
but we’re standing right here
with bombs bursting in air.
got my hand on the movement plow,
wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.
we’ve always called to the universe –
never needed anyone to show us how.

From the bottom of a mineshaft
come these new hymns for an old war
pray for rain – rock for light
sing for hope – work for change

pray for thanks, for focus
pray for love, the strength of doves

Pray! For rain.
Work! For change.
Pray! For fuel.
BUILD A FIRE.

They say all songs’ve been sung – I think that’s so arrogant.
not because I’m special, but because the world is changing.
Lady, whatchoo want me to do? Now, I’m holdin’ my breath…
yeah, I’ll walk with you, I said with nobody else.
I know it’s sounds so cliche, but you know I’ve tried it all –
waitin’ on The Lottery and workin for a pay check.
I ain’t no Connor O’berst, but I think I know what he meant.
you know I had love once. back then, I was a fool, but now I found it again…
Yes, I found it again!

So, I look to the left
and I look to my right
I see you still by my side
and then I know it’s alright.
When bullets start to fly
and I see the water rise up,
then I keep to my Left
then I look to my right.
I see you still by my side,
and I then I know it’s alright –
not fake like the movies,
but like it is in real life.

They say that it’s all been said – I think that’s way too easy,
and even if they’re all right, it’s a shitty thing to believe.
I met a girl at a protest – we laughed and danced in the street.
some boy called us naive ‘cause we were actin’ silly
like the movement’s all blood, like its nothing but pain,
but it’s gotta be both if we really want things to change.
i know that we are at war and the world is on fire,
but if I lose my mind, is it worth all the fight?
if we bleed without joy, then it’s not worth the fight!

So I look to the left
and I look to my right
I see you still by my side
and I then I know it’s alright
When bullets start to fly
and I see the water rise up
then I keep to my Left
then I look to my right
I see you still by my side
and I then I know it’s alright
not fake like the movies
but like it is in real life

If – we – bleed without joy, then
it’s not – worth, worth the fight

if we bleed without joy, then It’s not worth the fight!

So I look to the left
and I look to my right
I see you still by my side
and I then I know it’s alright
When bullets start to fly
and I see the water rise up
then I keep to my Left
then I look to my right
I see you still by my side
and I then I know it’s alright
not fake like the movies
but like it is in real life.

Look at all the flat screens playin’ all the sports.
look at all the neon glowin in the dark.
this ain’t an honest temple for the heart of a song,
it’s just another bar trying to profit of off art.

Bouncers and Cops, Bouncers and Cops!
Alpha-Male Violence, Bullies and Jocks!
it ain’t the only way, we don’t have to go
we don’t need your shit to have a fucking show

It’s so ridiculous, who would ever think
kids can’t see a band just because they’re serving drinks.
you treat us like we’re chumps, you treat us like we’re dirt,
but if we didn’t come, then you’d be out of work.

Bouncers and Cops, Bouncers and Cops!
Alpha-Male Violence, Bullies and Jocks!
ain’t the only way, we don’t have to go
we don’t need your shit to have a fucking show!

We blame the owner more, we never see his face.
this ain’t a music venue – it’s a barroom with a stage.
it’s here to make cash, it’s here to sell drinks.
if it was just for music, then this place would not exist.
why should we bring you money? why should we bring you crowds?
you got nice equipment, but you suck at doing sound!
you fail at doing promo, you treat kids like we’re trash,
so we’ll go throw our own and we’ll get to keep the cash.

U.S. out the Amazon, U.S. out the Gulf
U.S. out the ocean, U.S. off the coast
U.S. out the forest, U.S. out the well
What blood is of the earth is not your stock to sell!

Take chances for the world (U. S.! OUT NOW!)
don’t understand the risk (OUT NOW!)

Rushing in the deep with a loaded drill
too many ways to break what you could never fix
your Mother is a hostage, the gun is at her head
when profit’s held up above every living thing

Take chances for the world (B – P! OUT NOW!)
don’t understand the risk (OUT NOW!)

I don’t kill with my hate
he who kills with his hate
has forgotten the face
of his Mother. I kill
WITH – MY – HEART.

Lyrics to “U.S. Out of the Amazon!” written by Jared Paul, for Prayers For Atheists, originally released on Strange Famous Records.